mr handsome and miss golden face

Myanmar is one of five countries in the world that practices Theravada Buddhism and right alongside the pagodas and stupas of Buddha are small family shrines like this one or larger town shrines to nats or spirits.
A link to the pre-Buddhism era when animism was dominant, there are 37 nats, each a person of some importance who died in a violent way. Seemingly quite feisty as they have to be provided for as they can bring good or bad luck.

The city of Tagaung, is believed to be one of Myanmar’s ancient capitals and the largest surviving monument is the nat shrine under the care of a spirit medium lady.
Tagaung is the home to two famous nat spirits, with the slightly unlikely names, Mr Handsome and Miss Golden Face.
The long story told short about this brother and sister is that they were burned to death under a frangipani tree after which the tree was uprooted and floated off down the Ayeyarwady River coming to rest at Bagan where they now guard the myriad temples there.
The nat shrines containing Mr H and MsGF have to be covered at night before lights are turned on or candles are lit in the home and they do not like the light from a fame.

Our boat the RV Katha Pandaw flew not only the Myanmar flag but also the Buddhist flag at the bow with a bunch of Eugenia to ask the river nat for safe passage.